EPIC ELDERFLOWERS!

A week and a bit ago, me and Dad picked some elderflowers. Well, it was more than some, it was a whole carrier-bag full! Here I will show you the recipes for the two Delicious drinks (well we've only tasted one so far) that we made.

Elderflower Cordial

3 lemons, sliced
10 elderflower heads
500g sugar (one heck of a lot!)
2l cold water
1 pint boiling water
A large bowl
Filter paper or muslin
Put the sugar in the bowl and pour over the boiling water. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Add cold water. Leave until tepid. Add the lemon slices, giving each a good squeeze, and then add the elderflower heads. Leave for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Pour through filter paper or muslin into bottles. Refridgerate or freeze.

Elderflower Champagne (English Fizz)

2 lemons, sliced
2 large elderflower heads
500g sugar
5l cold water
1 pint boiling water
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Large bowl
Filter paper or muslin
Dissolve sugar in boiling water. Add cold water. Add all other ingredients and leave for 48 hours, stirring occasionally. Filter into bottles (able to withstand pressure). Close tightly and leave. It will be ready in 2 weeks. Release some air occasionally to prevent explosions.

Elderflower Head

Boiling Water

Lemon

Sugar

 We tried it out, and deliberately over-done it on the elderflowers, but it tasted really good. It tastes even better if you add carbonated water and ice-cubes to it (or maybe a slice of lemon and a cocktail umbrella  if you are a fancy type of person!) The champagne has not yet brewed fully but we checked it yesterday and it has certainly gone fizzy! Please collect some elderflowers your self and check The Urbane Forager blog for more tasty recipes and how to identify elderflowers, and it is a good blog in general!

An Update On The Queer Ants

Yes, the ants are still being strange. I know now that all the holes in the ground are entrances to the same nest (which is huge!) Three times today I saw groups of ants hunting fly maggots (eeew! I know!) and because they are so intriguing I have decided to help them out in life. I am trying to find out whether they are predominantly hunters or predominantly seed-foragers, or both. I have done this by smoothing two areas of the soil near the nest flat and putting broken up meal-worms on one area and mixed seeds on the other. So far, they seem to be mainly hunters (they are loving the meal-worms!) I have also watched them 'milking' their aphid 'herds' and licking up the honeydew.  I have noticed that some ants have not been able to get back to the nest in time for when the predators (such as some birds) come out and get eaten. So although it does benefit the birds, I have gone on the insects' side this time. I have made some 'hide-aways'. Two were/are made of old screw-plugs with pieces of meal-worm shoved in them and pushed into the soil. I camouflaged them with stones and bits of leaf. One was made of a hollow length of straw with seeds in (bluebell seeds are really good), and the final one was made out of an empty Dr Stuart's Really Good Teas Valerian Tea packet (random I know) with food in weighted down with a stone but leaving a gap for the ants to enter and leave through and again camouflaged with debris. Other insect can use these too and they are handy for if you have an aphid problem, because ladybirds can shelter there. If you are passionate about the mini-beasts of your garden, ten please make some hide-aways and to attract beneficial bees, plant some lavender or sunflowers (sunflowers are also really important for the Greenfinches and other birds.) And remember, a good insect population means more birds!